STREAMING
Amazon MiniTV, the free streaming service available on the Amazon Shopping app in India, is dubbing a raft of Korean, Turkish, Mandarin and Spanish dramas into the Hindi language for local consumption under the MiniTV Imported banner. The first set of shows, which streams from July 7, are all Korean and includes “Cheer Up,” “Heart Surgeons” and “Doctor Detective.”
Amogh Dusad, head of content, Amazon MiniTV, said: “In recent times, the viewing preferences of digital video consumers in India have changed significantly. They love diversity in content offering and are looking for unique stories & captivating characters from across the world. We have curated a list of blockbuster shows, from Korean, Turkish, Mandarin, Spanish and many more languages, that we believe will resonate with Indian viewers.”
UNDERSTANDING
U.K. producers alliance Pact has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the U.K. Business Centre (UKBC) Lille to facilitate cooperation and mutual exchange in the film and TV content industry between the U.K. and the Hauts de France region. The MoU, which will run for an initial period of three years, aims to increase opportunities for U.K. indies to grow their businesses and operations in France, the U.K.’s third biggest TV exports market, as well as in the EU.
Benefits of the MOU include access to office space and English language helplines through UKBC Lille; online webinars which will be made available via the Pact Growth Accelerator introducing U.K. indies to the film and TV industry in the Hauts de France region, outlining the support available from UKBC Lille, and covering commercial topics such as employment and immigration, banking and taxation; one-to-one support to address specific issues such as visas, tax management and finding local support staff; and joint events taking place in the U.K. and the Hauts de France region providing networking opportunities between U.K. indies and French production businesses, screen agencies and funding bodies.
APPOINTMENTS
Sky‘s streaming service Now has promoted commercial director Jacob Bridges to managing director, replacing Marina Storti who is stepping down from the role after six years, and following a 21-year career with Sky. Bridges will lead and be responsible for the strategy, commercial, marketing and editorial teams. He joined Now a year ago and previously held senior leadership roles at Virgin Media O2, EE, Vodafone and Amazon.
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New media company WFTN‘s digital multi-channel network Radar MCN has recruited former Beyond Rights CEO Kate Llewellyn-Jones to help drive a new Total Distribution strategy in the newly created role of content partnerships lead. Joining as a consultant, and based with the Radar team in London, Llewellyn-Jones will work with a range of production companies, content creators and other rights owners to help ensure their untapped rights can be successfully monetized.
Under general manager Derek Dyson, the Total Distribution strategy will see Radar MCN work more closely with group businesses – WTFN Entertainment (production), Fred Media (TV distribution) and Empire Talent (talent management) – to ensure that every right for any type of content is maximized across every available platform.
As an example of the strategy, the company cites “Bondi Vet,” which started as a TV series and is now a content universe that includes four million subscribers acrossYouTube and Instagram, in addition to branded AVOD and FAST channels managed by Radar and core content on Blue Ant’s FAST channel network, Love Pets.
CASTING
Actor Jay Lycurgo (“The Bastard Son & the Devil Himself”) has joined the cast of Euros Lyn’s “The Radleys,” the upcoming vampire thriller adapted from the acclaimed novel by bestselling author Matt Haig (“A Boy Called Christmas”), starring Damian Lewis and Kelly MacDonald and produced by Genesius Pictures (“Good Luck To You Leo Grande”).
Nestled in a quiet, suburban English town live The Radleys. To their neighbours, they are as ordinary as they come, yet beneath the surface, parents Peter (Lewis) and Helen (Macdonald) are concealing a devastatingly dark secret from their teenage children, Rowan (Baxendale) and Clara (Bragason). They are abstaining vampires, choosing not to drink blood despite their natural cravings, yet becoming more and more bloodthirsty by the day.
Lycurgo will play the role of Evan Copeland, a teenager living in the Radleys’ neighbourhood and Clara’s best friend.
The film is coming to Sky Cinema in 2024.
ANIMATION
BBC Children’s and Education has revealed three projects that will be taken forward from Ignite, an initiative to find the U.K.’s next animation hit.
The projects chosen are “Duck and Frog” created by Sam Shaw, a slapstick comedy with a modern British setting and an energetic anarchic sense of humor; “The Underglow,” a 2D pre-school series created by Tanya Scott and Sam Morrison full of little creatures and characters that come out to play when the sun goes down; and “Captain Onion’s Buoyant Academy for Wayward Youth,” a comedy created by Matthew Bradley at ALT Animation that follows Marvin and his friends on their boat-based boarding school, the Unsinkable II.
